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Singh Named CFO of News Corp. Spin-Off

News Corp., the $34 billion media company based in New York, appointed Bedi Ajay Singh CFO of the publishing division, which is to be split off into a separate public company from the media and entertainment company, which will go by a new name, Fox Group. Singh, 52, most recently served as CFO and president of finance and administration at MGM Studios. Earlier he was CFO at Gemstar-TV Guide, Novartis Pharmaceuticals and SONY Pictures. He has also held previous finance positions at News Corp. He started his career at Arthur Andersen in London.

National Oilwell Varco, a $14.6 billion provider of mechanical equipment for the oil and gas industry, appointed Jeremy Thigpen CFO and senior vice president. He succeeds Clay Williams, who was named president and COO. Thigpen has worked for the Houston-based company for 15 years, most recently serving as president of Downhole Pumping and Solutions. Previously he was president of the Downhole Tools group.

Brunswick Corp., which makes boats and other recreation equipment and had $3.7 billion in 2011 revenue, named William Metzger CFO. He succeeds Peter Hamilton, who is retiring in February. Metzger, 51, pictured at left, recently served as treasurer and vice president of the company. He joined Brunswick as an accounting manager in 1987 and was named director of corporate accounting in 1996 and treasurer in 2001. Before joining the Lake Forest Ill.-based company, Metzger spent four years at Arthur Andersen.

EchoStar, a $2.7 billion provider of satellite operations and video delivery solutions, named David Rayner CFO. He succeeds Kenneth Carroll, who will become executive vice president of corporate and business development for the Englewood, Colo.-based company. Rayner, 55, pictured at right, most recently was CFO at Tendril Networks. He worked at Dish Network as CFO and executive vice president of installation and service networks in 2004 when it was part of the same company as EchoStar. In 2008, after Echostar was split off from Dish, he served as CFO and chief administrative officer at EchoStar. Earlier, Rayner worked at Time Warner Telecom.

Willbros Group, a Houston-based contractor for the oil, gas, power, refining and petrochemical industries, appointed Geoffrey Stanford chief accounting officer and vice president. He replaces Ron Lefaive, who is retiring from the $1.6 billion company. Stanford, 45, recently served as senior director of corporate operational accounting at Shaw Group. Previously he was corporate controller at Albemarle Corp. and Global Industries.

Retail Opportunity Investments Corp., a real estate trust company, named Michael Haines CFO and executive vice president. He replaces John Roche, who is leaving the San Diego-based company. Haines, 51, pictured at left, most recently served as chief accounting officer at Pacific Office Properties. Previously he was chief accounting officer at American Realty Advisors, CFO at Hopkins Real Estate Group, vice president of finance at Pan Pacific Retail Properties and director of internal audit at the Hahn Company.

Lithium Technologies, an Emeryville, Calif.-based software company, appointed Mark Culhane CFO. He succeeds Carlton Baab, who is leaving after two years as CFO. Culhane, 52, most recently was CFO and executive vice president at Demand Tec, a cloud–based data and analytics company. Previously he was CFO at iManage and SciClone Pharmaceuticals. Culhane began his career at PriceWaterhouse. He serves on the board of directors of Callidus Cloud and chairs its audit committee.

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